1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate to a method and apparatus for a payment-triggered audiovisual display. Embodiments are directed in particular to a method and apparatus for displaying music, videos and advertisements using a jukebox (a digital video jukebox for example).
2. Background of the Invention
Audiovisual reproduction systems are known and are generally found in cafes or pubs. These systems are generally comprised of a sound reproduction machine usually called a jukebox linked to a monitor which displays video images or video clips. To do this, known jukeboxes are equipped with a compact video disk player and a compact video disk library and includes selection buttons (a touch screen or keypad for example) used to locate the titles of pieces of music which are available. After payment of a fee the system automatically loads a disk in the player on which the selected piece is found. The desired audiovisual reproduction then starts. One example of such a system does is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,015.
Such known systems, although providing faithful and good quality reproduction, nevertheless have a number of major defects, including the space necessary for storing the library; consequently entailing large and bulky systems. Likewise, these systems may use mechanical hardware having high fault rates. Finally, it is unusual for all the pieces on a disk to be played regularly; some of the pieces are almost never played, but cannot be eliminated from the library.
Jukebox systems that do not use physical CDs are also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,768 discloses a broadband server for transmitting music or images formed by a main processor to a remotely located jukebox. The main processor communicates by a DMA channel with a hard disk and output cards, each controlled by a supplementary local processor which manages an alternative mode of access to two buffer memories A and B. Memory A is used to deliver, for example, musical data to a user, while the other is filled. Each of the output cards is connected to a consultation station, which can be local and situated in the same vicinity as the server or, alternatively, at a distance and connected by an audio or video communications network. The server receives data block-by-block and ensures that the sample parities are correct and rejects a block including more than two successive wrong samples.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,204 discloses a method for communication between a central server and a computerized jukebox, which operates in a conference mode. This method includes sending a header before any transaction, which includes the identity of the destination together with the identity of the emitter, and the size of the packets. A response is sent from the server in the form of a data packet, each packet sent by the server being encoded using the identification code of the jukebox software. The jukebox receives the data packet, decodes the packet, simultaneously performs a check on the data received by the CRC method and sends an acknowledgment of receipt to the server indicating the accuracy of the information received, to allow it to prepare and send another packet to the juke-box.
An additional example of a jukebox operating without the use of CD media is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,509. The jukebox in that patent includes means for recording customer performances on analog tape, which requires conversion of digital music or video stored on the jukebox to analog signals in order to allow their recording on analog tape.
However, none of the described jukeboxes discuss playing music, videos and advertisements simultaneously and in a plurality of formats. To the extent that previous patents include monitors that could be adapted to display advertisements, no means are indicated as to how to adapt the selection of advertisement to the music previously selected. Changes to music libraries contained in jukeboxes described by previous patents require either (1) replacement of physical hard drive as in the jukebox described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,509 or alternatively (2) a connection to a server as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,308,204. The invention disclosed in this patent allows for updates to the jukebox music library without the need for either physical drive replacements or a constant connection to a distribution network. Further, none of the previously described jukeboxes describe means for playing digital content with individual licensing restrictions nor do the previous jukeboxes allow for connection of one or more add-on devices as described below.